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Dr Jon Chambers picks up the reins as Editor of the Bulletin and welcomes you to the year's first issue.

As I pick up the reins as Editor of the Bulletin, I do so with an appropriate degree of trepidation. The Bulletin has been a constant throughout my anaesthetic career, and it remains a window into our specialty that combines a mix of news, developments within the specialty, personal stories and guidance. In my short time in the role, I’ve already been humbled by the quality of contributions from the anaesthetic community willing to share their stories and their work with colleagues.

The start of a new year is often a time to look to the future and the new challenges ahead. In the midst of this newness I have always believed that we should also take the time to look back, and to learn from and reflect on the lessons of our past. In the run up to LGBT+ History Month (February) Professor Andrew Hartle does just that, and he writes openly and honestly on the challenges he has faced as an out gay anaesthetist throughout his career in the NHS and the military. His reflections take us through his journey of exclusion and stigmatisation, and then ultimately of acceptance, recognition and celebration. It is an incredible journey and ends with him rightly encouraging us all to feel prouder in 2025.

Welcome to the July 2023 edition of the Bulletin. As I write this, it is challenging to summarise the state of the UK NHS as anything other than the epitome of uncertainty. Yet many of us, myself included, continue to advocate for a healthcare service so close to our hearts, striving for solutions as we approach the 75^th anniversary of the NHS. 

As someone who comes from an immigrant background, I have personally witnessed sustained periods of uncertainty and instability – and, also, through creative thinking, steadfastness, and perseverance, outcomes beyond any that were imaginable. Observing generations of family, my parents included, undergo the process of building life anew including acculturation, instilled in me from a young age a strong foundation of hope that no situation is insurmountable. This hope is beyond naïve positivity, but rather is borne of a pragmatic optimism resulting from lived experience. As a specialty, we are intelligent, resourceful and innovative – we have ‘found a way’ countless times.

Authors:

• Dr Andrew Kane, ST7 in Anaesthesia, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr Simon Davies, Reader in Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Hull York Medical School; Honorary Consultant in Anaesthesia, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr David Yates, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Honorary Senior Lecturer, HYMS
• Professor Gerard Danjoux, Honorary Professor, HYMS; Consultant in Anaesthesia, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Chatting in a pub in York in 2019, Simon Davies, David Yates and Gerard Danjoux were reflecting on their academic careers to date. The three colleagues from York and South Tees Hospitals had worked together successfully since 2012, securing prestigious grant funding and delivering high-quality academic studies. Yet something was missing – strategy and infrastructure to create a sustainable programme of work and develop the researchers of the future.

As the evening progressed, more and more ideas were generated in direct correlation to the consumption of the excellent York ales!! Before the end of the evening, an idea was hatched, and the colleagues would form a new collaboration with an academic partner: the North Yorkshire Academic Alliance of Perioperative Medicine.

A new year signals a new Editor for the Bulletin, and it gives me immense pleasure to welcome you to the January 2023 edition. As I write this, the UK’s NHS is experiencing winter pressures, nurse strike action seems imminent, purple seems the new black in terms of hospital bed status, and elective surgical recovery targets seem an insurmountable challenge. It would be easy to feel discouraged, but a new year always heralds new hope.

Scrolling through the articles in this Bulletin, I am filled with delight at the examples and opportunities for change during these uncertain times. Innovation has long been the forte of our specialties – doing things differently, more efficiently, and more safely for the betterment of patient care. Whether it is the small tweaks made to TIVA settings, the slight adjustment of the ultrasound image during a nerve block, or refining the ergonomics of running an operating theatre list or ICU ward round, continuous improvement is innate to our specialties and specialists.